Rutgers' David Osei is excelling in his new role as center

John Munson/The Star-LedgerDavid Osei (center) has been a boon for the Rutgers offensive line. He never played center before, but injuries have thrust him into the starting role.

David Osei drew almost no notice for his play during Rutgers’ first scrimmage on Saturday, and for what the third-year sophomore does, that’s a good thing.

With potential All-Big East defensive tackle Scott Vallone looming over his helmet every down, Osei got through the day without a mishandled exchange with quarterback Chas Dodd or a bad snap.

In other words, he was a typical center, not the center of attention.

“I thought he did a good job,” Dodd said. “I feel real comfortable with him now, and I have a lot of confidence in him.”

For the Scarlet Knights, Osei’s unexpected emergence as a reliable center has answered one of the bigger questions hanging over this team from the end of spring, when expected starter Dallas Hendrikson suffered a season-ending injury in the final practice before the spring game.

Enter Osei, who didn’t have another scholarship offer coming out of high school as a 240-pound offensive tackle; who had never played the center position before arriving in Piscataway, and who had appeared in one game his first two years at Rutgers.

“I’ve worked hard to be where I am, so it’s not a surprise,” said Osei, who now carries 280 pounds on his 6-4 frame. “Any time you work hard for something you shouldn’t be surprised when you get it.”

That’s what Osei says now.

Had anyone asked him the same question the previous two years, the response would have been much different.

“Rough,” is how Osei described his early transition to center.

“For a year and a half I was like ‘What am I doing?’ ” he said. “It’s easy to get discouraged, especially when you’re young and everyone else is making it look easy, like Ryan Blasczyk and Howard Barbieri. They seemed so much more natural at it than I was.

“But everyone kept encouraging me to stay with it. And (offensive line coach) Kyle Flood would always tell me that I had a chance to play here if I kept working.”

Most of Osei’s early years playing football were spent as a defensive end until he was switched to offensive tackle his senior year at Abington (Pa.) High School.

So he was clueless about the position he was asked to master in college, with the Rutgers center also responsible for getting the rest of the line into the correct play call.

“It took time and a lot of patience and a lot of work,” he said. “At tackle, I’d know a call or two and just go out and play. And you don’t worry about the ball and getting everyone else on the call.

“So it was like starting over.”

There was still enough uncertainty about Osei’s ability to be the starter that Rutgers went to the junior college ranks to find Hendrikson, who was projected as the center starter as soon as he arrived in January.

Then Hendrikson suffered his knee injury and Osei was all that was left. But he was ready.

“It’s true that I needed the opportunity to be there,” he said. “But it’s like they say: Luck is when hard work meets opportunity. That’s what it was.

“Now that I’m more comfortable I’m able to be more assertive in making the play calls, and that’s a big thing. There was no shortcut to this. It all happened through hard work.”